"He did really well at the start, and throughout all the match he was playing really nice tennis from baseline," said the World No. 1 "It was a tough match. I needed to fight all the way through every set, and I served well when I needed to and played my best tennis when it was most important."

Chances were few and far between in the first set, which was decided on a tie-break. Goffin led 4-3 in the tie-break, but Djokovic capitalised on two errors to seal the 46-minute opener.

Goffin showed great determination in recovering from a 2-4 deficit in the second set, but squandered a 40/0 lead in the ninth game. Djokovic went onto win 10 of 13 points to end the 41-minute set.

Djokovic broke for a 6-5 lead in the third set and prevented the Belgian from earning a double-break chance in the following game. He held serve to claim the two hour, 13-minute victory.

In the second round, Djokovic will face Guido Pella. The Argentine edged Ivan Dodig 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 12-10 in three hours and 24 minutes to secure his first win at a Grand Slam event. Pella is ranked a career-high No. 83 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week after qualifying en route to a semi-final run in Dusseldorf.

"I know he's one of the specialists on clay; that [he's] a new player that is coming up and he made some surprising wins," said Djokovic. "He won against my countrymen actually last week, Tipsarevic and Troicki, back-to-back. He must possess a good quality. Today he won a marathon match.

"I'm going to have to prepare myself and be on top of my game because, especially in the opening rounds, you're playing players that have nothing to lose so I'm sure that he's gonna be very motivated to play his best."

The Serbian is looking to become the eighth man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam of all four major titles. Djokovic is also bidding to become the first man since Jim Courier in 1992 to win back-to-back titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

A year after having to qualify into Roland Garros, 35-year-old Tommy Haas began his tournament in far different fashion. Seeded 12th, Haas defeated wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-3.

In a match interrupted by rain, Haas won 12 of his 15 net points and dropped serve just once to advance in one hour and 55 minutes. The German won his 14th ATP World Tour title on home soil at the BMW Open in Munich (d. Kohlshcreiber) and is in the same quarter of the draw as World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who he beat at the Sony Open Tennis in Miami.

Up next for Haas is Jack Sock. The American wild card dismissed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 57 minutes. The 118th-ranked Sock capitalised on seven of his 13 break points to secure his fourth main draw win at a major tournament and first outside the US Open.

Weather was a cause of concern throughout the day. Heavy rain hit Paris in the morning, delaying the start of play until 1:45 p.m. local time. Matches on court were then suspended at 3:24 p.m due to showers.